Bethany Hospital To Remain Open

CHICAGO — Evangelical Health Systems has announced that it intends to keep open Bethany Hospital, a 212-bed West Side facility that treated 62,000 patients last year.

Bethany, which has been losing $10 million to $12 million a year, was offered for sale to Cook County for use as a satellite.

The West Side Health Authority-a coalition of health groups-protested such a sale, contending that if Bethany were no longer a private hospital neighborhood doctors would have no place to admit patients and would leave the area.

EHS officials said that a rate increase from the Illinois Department of Public Aid, recruitment of more physicians to be on Bethany`s staff and broadening the patient base will enable the health system, which owns four other city and suburban hospitals, to keep Bethany open.